A Lambda Sensor Using Intake Mixture of Natural-Gas-Fueled Engines: The Censor

A special combustion chamber is described which burns a small, representative, fraction of the intake mixture of natural-gas-fuelled spark-ignition engines. The combustion end products are led to a lambda sensor which, consequently, will not be deteriorated by lubricating-oil additives and will not be hampered in its operation by unburnt methane. That leads to a largely extended life of the lambda sensor. The paper discusses the construction and control of the special chamber and ends with a discussion on the representativeness of the measured oxygen concentration for the air-to-fuel ratio.